


How To Win Friends and Influence People

by CloudAtlas



Series: Valentine's Prompts 2015 [2]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Community: be_compromised, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-12
Updated: 2015-02-12
Packaged: 2018-03-12 02:32:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3340298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudAtlas/pseuds/CloudAtlas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt: <i>Bookshop AU. One is bookseller/bookshop owner, the other a customer. Instead of talking one of them tries expressing feelings through the books they buy.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	How To Win Friends and Influence People

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inkvoices](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkvoices/gifts).
  * Translation into Русский available: [Как завоевывать друзей и оказывать влияние на людей](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11540475) by [Bat_out_of_hell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bat_out_of_hell/pseuds/Bat_out_of_hell), [fandom_All_Avengers_and_MCU_2017](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandom_All_Avengers_and_MCU_2017/pseuds/fandom_All_Avengers_and_MCU_2017)



Natasha has been on the till for nearly six hours in total when she sees her. Well, to be honest, she first sees him, but then she sees her.

She’s dark haired and has that sort of expression that says _I swear to God you are too stupid to live_. She’s got his wrist clamped tightly in her hand though and Natasha feels a momentary pang in her chest, because _he’s_  blond and a little bumbling and a lot earnest and she shouldn’t find it as attractive as she does. He’s come in every two to three days, loitering for a while and then coming up to her and asking for recommendations. Natasha had managed to get him to buy almost all of her favourite contemporary fiction, including some really fucked up crime and horror.

The dark haired girl drags the guy straight up to where Natasha is standing behind the counter. She doesn’t let go of his wrist.

“Hi,” says the girl.

“Hi, how can I help?” Natasha is well versed in customer service.

“I was wondering if you could look up a book for me?” asks the girl. A quick glance to the guy reveals him to be looks both alarmed and confused.

“Yeah, sure.” Natasha pulls up the database.

“Yeah, it’s called _I Can’t Talk To The Hot Girl In The Bookshop So My Friend Has To Intervene On My Behalf_  by Clint Barton.”

Natasha’s halfway through typing it into the search field when the words actually filter into her brain.

Her fingers still and her head snaps up, eyes bypassing the now smirking girl and landing on the guy – Clint Barton, she presumes – who is slowly turning red.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh’,” says the girl. “He’s the worst at flirting.”

She lets go of his wrist and pushes him towards the counter where Natasha is, her hands still hovering above the keys of her keyboard.

“Don’t say I never do anything for you,” she says to Clint Barton, patting him on the shoulder and turning to leave. He gives the girl a panicked look and she gives him a cheesy double thumbs-up in return, before walking out the door.

Natasha has never seen someone look as uncomfortable in a bookshop as Clint Barton looks now.

“Um, hi,” he says eventually, his eyes meeting hers and then darting away again. “I, um. I really liked _The Shining Girls_.”

Natasha can feel her face splitting into a grin so large her cheeks hurt.

“Yeah?” she asks.

Clint Barton smiles a little, his hand coming up to scrub at the back of his neck.

“Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

>  _The Shining Girls_ is by Lauren Beukes and if you like horror, crime or supernatural weirdness, I suggest you give it a go. If you don't like that, try her other stuff, _Zoo City_ and _Moxyland_. South African sci-fi!


End file.
